Naomi Coker and Sienna Jetha each took a double gold on the first day of the Mark Bates Ltd Cadet, Under-17 & Junior National Championships in Nottingham.
Coker won the Cadet Girls’ Singles and Jetha the Under-17s and they teamed up to take the Cadet Girls’ Doubles.
The Boys’ Doubles at the younger age group was won by Harry Randall & Max Radiven, while Ralph Pattison took the singles title.
Connor Green won the Under-17 Boys’ Singles, while the doubles was won by James Hamblett & Joseph Hunter. The Under-17 Girls’ Doubles was won by Ella Pashley & Mabel Shute.
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Click here to see all the day’s results.
Cadet Boys’ Singles
Top seed Ralph Pattison duly ended up as the champion as he defeated third seed Max Radiven in the final by a 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-6) margin.
Pattison met with almighty resistance in the semi-finals before he finally got the better of Rohan Dani, the fourth seed, 3-2 (11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 15-17, 11-5).
The other semi-final was a bit more routine as Radiven moved through in four against Harry Randall. It was well poised at 1-1 by Radiven held his nerve to win 3-1 (11-4, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7).
Randall had removed second seed Isaac Kingham from the equation in the quarter-finals, going through 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-8) against an opponent hampered by a should problem which saw him withdraw from other competitions.
Radiven had come through a tough quarter-final against sixth seed Abraham Sellado, shading it 11-9 in the fifth after missing a chance to seal it in the fourth. The scoreline was 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 12-14, 11-9.
At the same stage, Pattison won in four against Adam Alibhai and Dani also took four, against Kacper Piwowar.
Group stage
Group 7 saw Ryan Goodier get above Janak Shah to go into the knockouts behind top-ranked Leo Nguyen. But it needed countback to separate Goodier, Shah and Theo Kniep, who all won once.
It was 3-2 (12-10, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6) for Shah over Kniep, while Kniep defeated Goodier also in five (11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-8) and Goodier beat Shah 3-1 (11-8, 11-4, 4-11, 11-9) – all of which saw Goodier get the verdict.
Third-ranked Prayrit Ahluwalia caused an upset in Group 2, defeating second-ranked Zac Greenhough 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-6). It was enough to take Ahluwalia through behind top-ranked Isaac Kingham, who dropped a game in all three of his matches.
Top seed Ralph Pattison had no alarms in Group 1, but the second-ranked Louis Cheung-Turner had to really earn his place in the knockout stage, coming from 2-0 down to defeat Parsa Yamin 3-2 (8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-3).
Third seed Max Radiven headed Group 3 as expected, without dropping a game. He was joined in the KO stage by second-ranked William Hopkins, who was taken to four by Wajid Wafiq.
In Group 4, Sam Gabriel’s withdrawal meant there was a straight shootout between Hugo Nguyen and Zain Hussain to join group winner and fourth seed Rohan Dani in the last 16. Nguyen won that in four.
Last week, Teagan Khazal beat Kacper Piwowar at the Butterfly Schools Individuals, but there was no repeat when they met in Group 5.
Piwowar won in three this time, but he was extended to a fifth by Fernando Frandes, coming out a 3-2 (12-10, 4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10) winner – saving two match points. That confirmed Piwowar in top spot and Frandes in second – the expected outcome.
Group 6 also went the way it was meant to go as Abraham Sellado and schools under-13 silver medallist Pablo Ramirez-Rioja made it through. Nishil Shah and Alexander Graham had a good battle over third place, the third-ranked Graham taking it 3-2 (12-10, 11-4, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8).
Group 8 went with seeding as Harry Randall won, but Adam Alibhai needed a deciding fifth game in two of his matches to take the runners-up spot.
He first beat Shahuraj Nimse 3-2 (9-11, 11-1, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7) and then saw off Vairavel Ramkumar 11-7, 6-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6).
Cadet Girls’ Singles
Naomi Coker stunned her doubles partner and top seed Sienna Jetha to complete a double golden day and seal her first national singles title.
It was a superb performance by Coker as she beat her good friend in three straight (11-7, 11-8, 11-9) in the final.
Coker defeated second seed Ella Pashley in the semi-finals, turning it around after losing the first easily. The next three were all close in Coker’s favour as she completed a 3-1 (3-11, 12-10, 11-8, 12-10) victory.
Jetha had to withstand a fightback from Jonabel Taguibao in the other semi-final, taking the first two sets with relative ease and then digging in to secure a 3-1 (11-4, 11-6, 10-12, 13-11) win.
Back in the last 16, Mauli Shah had to stave off a super comeback by Lianna Shilani Tousi, Shah eventually prevailing 3-2 (12-10, 11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 11-5).
Shah was defeated in three by Coker in the quarter-finals, the same stage at which Jetha overcame Isabella Turner-Samuels and Pashley beat Eva Eccles, both also in three, and Taguibao got past Luna Archard in four.
Group stage
The drama belonged in groups 5 and 6 as the second and third-ranked players went through on both occasions at the expense of the top-ranked player.
In Group 5, there was the added jeopardy of countback as Lianna Shilani Tousi, Bly Twomey and Mia Lakhani all won twice.
Shilani Tousi beat Twomey in four, while Twomey overcame Lakhani in four. The all important score was therefore Shilani Tousi taking two games off top-ranked Lakhani – it finished 3-2 (11-6, 5-11, 12-10, 12-14, 11-4) to Lakhani but that was not enough to take her through has her opponent won the group, with Twomey second. Twomey also defeated Anisha Kant in five (11-4, 9-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-4).
Group 6 did not need countback, but second-ranked Isabella Turner-Samuels won all her matches to finish top. That included an exceptionally tight first match, which she shaded against Mauli Shah 3-2 (14-16, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9).
Turner-Samuels also beat top-ranked Brooke Morris in five (11-8, 8-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-7), saving a match point in the fourth. Morris, a schools champion last week, also went down 3-2 to Shah as well (5-11, 12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7) – meaning Shah joined Turner-Samuels in the knockouts.
There were no alarms for top seed Sienna Jetha in Group 1 as she breezed through, but she was joined in the knockouts by the third-ranked player in the group, Alyssa Nguyen. Nguyen, who last week won the under-11 girls’ Butterfly Schools Individual title, overcame Sophie Ackred in three to go through to the round of 16.
Group 2 went as expected as Ella Pashley came out on top, followed by Mia Longman – Pashley won the clash between the top two 6, 6, 3.
Group 3 was another to follow the expected pattern – all six matches were done in three as Jonabel Taguibao and Tilly Simms duly went through to the knockouts.
Fourth seed Naomi Coker was untroubled in Group 4, winning all three matches in three straight. Second-ranked Luna Archard also went through, though she needed four to overcome Chui-Que Wong.
Group 7 also went with seeding, Eva Eccles defeating Millie Noble 3-1 (6-11, 11-5, 13-11, 11-7) in the match to determine top spot. Eccles was also taken to four by Alisha Dutta.
Cadet Boys’ Doubles
Max Radiven & Harry Randall took down the top two pairs to lift the title – a first National title for Randall.
It was 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-5) in the final against top seeds Ralph Pattison & Isaac Kingham, having won a tight semi-final against Kacper Piwowar & Abraham Sellado 3-2 (11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8).
Pattison and Kingham had to dig deep in the semi-finals as they trailed twins Hugo & Leo Nguyen 2-0. Once the tide had turned, it stayed turned, as the top seeds won it 3-2 (8-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-1, 11-5).
In the quarters, Pattison & Kingham sam off Parsa Yamin & Shahuraj Nimse in four, and it was the same margin for Radiven & Randall over Adam Alibhai & Alexander Graham and for Piwowar & Sellado over Zac Greenhough & Louis Cheung-Turner. The Nguyens needed only three against William Hopkins & Wajid Wafiq.
Cadet Girls’ Doubles
Top seeds Sienna Jetha & Naomi Coker defended their title thanks to a 3-0 (12-10, 11-6, 11-8) victory over Jonabel Taguibao & Isabella Turner-Samuels.
Taguibao & Turner-Samuels had got past second seeds Mia Lakhani & Eva Eccles in the semi-finals in an absolute thriller. They breezed into a 2-0 lead but saw their opponents fight back to level. The decider went to deuce and, to their evident delight, it was the Greenhouse duo Taguibao & Turner-Samuels who won it 3-2 (11-4, 11-8, 3-11, 11-13, 13-11).
By comparison, it was a less stressful 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-6) victory for Jetha & Coker over Tilly Simms & Sophie Ackred.
There was a tight match in the preliminary round as Luna Archard & Olivia Stabrauskaite edged past Caron Charles & Chui-Que Wong 3-2 (11-7, 11-5, 6-11, 5-11, 13-11) to set up a match against the top seeds Jetha & Coker in the quarters.
That was one of three quarter-finals to be done in three – the exception was Taguibao & Turner-Samuels overcoming Alisha Dutta & Mauli Shah in four.
Under-17 Girls’ Singles
Sienna Jetha ended the day as Under-17 champion, making up for defeat in the Cadet final earlier.
It was a 3-1 (11-5, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4) victory for the fourth seed against sixth seed Ella Pashley
Jetha had to hold off a determined comeback by second seed Maliha Baig in the semi-finals, eventually booking her place in the final with a 3-2 (11-6, 11-6, 10-12, 7-11, 11-9) scoreline.
Pashley got through at the top of the draw against Saskia Key in four, having earlier dumped top seed Anna Green out in three straight in the quarters (6, 9, 9).
Two of the quarter-finals were done in four – Jetha beating Bethany Ellis and Baig emerging victorious over Evelyn Pace – while Key got through in three against Mia Lakhani.
Back in the first round, Pashley was tested by Mabel Shute before coming through 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8), while Lakhani had a see-saw 3-2 (12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5) win over Naomi Coker.
Group stage
Third-ranked Anna Piercey won two five-game matches on her way to topping Group 5. She first beat the second-ranked player Eva Eccles 9-11, 11-2, 12-10, 3-11, 11-7 and then overcame the No 1 Evelyn Pace from 2-0 down – the final scoreline was 3-2 (8-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 13-11).
Piercey confirmed top spot with a four-game win over Beth Pye, while Pace secure second as she overcame Eccles in four.
Group 7 finished in 1-2-3-4 order, but that does not begin to tell the story as a three-way countback was needed to separate Isabelle Lacorte, Mia Lakhani and Mia Longman.
Longman defeated Lakhani in four, and Lacorte then beat Longman in three. It all came down to Lacorte versus Lakhani and that was a 3-2 thriller as Lacorte saved five match points in the fourth and Lakhani saved three in the fifth – Lakhani eventually coming out 3-2 (5-11, 11-6, 11-7, 12-14, 15-13) winner to go through to the knockouts.
Top seed Anna Green was upset by Sophie Ackred in Group 1, going down 3-2 (14-12, 11-9, 4-11, 4-11, 11-8). With Ackred having lost in four to Lianna Shilani Tousi and Green going on to defeat Shilani Tousi in three, it went to countback, and Green topped the group, with third-ranked Ackred going through ahead of the higher-ranked Shilani Tousi.
In Group 4, there was a great victory for Naomi Coker over top-ranked Sienna Jetha as the top two went through in the reverse positions to those which were expected. It was 3-2 (11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 3-11, 11-6) in favour of Coker.
The top two were also reversed in Group 3, where Parmis Ahsani got ahead of Saskia Key thanks to a tight 3-1 (12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11) victory.
The three-player Group 2 went as expected as Maliha Baig topped the group ahead of Connie Dumelow, though Dumelow had to battle past Anaiya Alil 3-1 (12-14, 15-13, 14-12, 11-1).
Group 6 saw top two Ella Pashley and Jonabel Taguibao go through in that order – it was 3-0 (7, 12, 6) to Pashley in their meeting. Fourth-ranked Alyssa Nguyen overcame Darcy Brewer 3-2 (5-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8) to finish third.
Bethany Ellis got above Mabel Shute in Group 8, beating her higher-ranked opponent 3-1 (12-10, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4). Shute made it through in second.
Under-17 Boys’ Singles
Connor Green lived up to top billing as he recovered from losing the first game to fifth seed Jakub Piwowar to win 3-1 (11-13, 11-3, 11-6, 11-5).
The semi-finals saw Green take some time to come to terms with the game of Rohan Dani before working things out to win 3-1 (10-12, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7).
Meanwhile, it was four games too for Piwowar as he defeated Adam Dennison 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 11-2.
In the quarters, Green blitzed last year’s Cadet and Junior singles champion Larry Trumpauskas (4, 3, 8) and Piwowar knocked out second seed Ralph Pattison in four (8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-6).
Dennison beat James Hamblett in three, while Dani defeated Krish Chotai in four.
Third and fourth seeds and doubles partners Hamblett and Joseph Hunter met in the first round – Hunter had finished runner-up in his group – and it went the distance, fourth seed Hamblett taking it 3-2 (12-14, 11-2, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6).
Group stage
Third-ranked Rohan Dani upset both top-ranked Joseph Hunter and second-ranked Ben Dunkley to win Group 3.
It was 3-1 (11-5, 4-11, 13-11, 11-6) over Dunkley and 3-2 (7-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-3, 11-7) over Hunter – Dani also beat Leo Nguyen in five. Hunter made it through in second.
Krish Chotai won Group 8 from No 2, overcoming top-ranked Joseph Dennison in three (4, 9, 6). He was joined in the knockouts by fourth-ranked Daniel Goitom, who lost to Chotai but defeated Denisson and Joseph Fortnum-Adams, both in four.
The fourth-ranked player Chidumebi Egbeama won two matches to go through from Group 7 behind the top ranked Adam Dennison.
Egbeama took a game in defeat to Dennison but went on to overcome second-ranked Aaron Yuk Shing Geung 3-0 (11-4, 13-11, 16-14) and then third-ranked Joseph Cooper 3-1 (11-9, 11-4, 10-12, 11-9).
Max Radiven got past Kacper Piwowar in Group 6, which became a three-way shootout with the withdrawal of Isaac Kingham, who was managing a shoulder issue. Top-ranked Larry Trumpauskas won his two matches in three, but Radiven defeated the higher-ranked Piwowar in four to follow Trumpauskas through.
Top seed Connor Green safely navigated Group 1 and was joined as expected by Ollie Maric-Murray, though the latter had to fight to get past third-ranked Nathaniel Saunders 3-2 (8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9).
No problems for Ralph Pattison and Harry Randall getting through Group 2, though Pattison shaded their meeting 3-2 (11-6, 11-6, 4-11, 6-11, 12-10) to see that they went through in the ‘correct’ order. William Saint beat Chris Ho with a fine comeback to take third – it was 3-2 (12-14, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9) in his favour.
James Hamblett and Jake Haygarth went through from Group 4 – the meeting between the top two saw Hamblett win in four. Haygarth earlier had to battle past Fred Jones 3-2 (13-11, 4-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-8) – Jones also lost in five to lower-ranked Adam Alibhai.
Group 5 saw Jakub Piwowar and Harry Yip safely through as expected, though Yip had to fight past Francesco Bonato 3-2 (11-5, 6-11, 11-2, 7-11, 11-4). Bonato also lost in five to Max Gonpot, who came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 (7-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 11-4).
Under-17 Girls’ Doubles
Ella Pashley & Mabel Shute became National champions – a first title for them both.
It was a 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 14-12) victory for them against Evelyn Pace & Bethany Ellis in the final.
The two semi-finals saw the top two pairs knocked out in contrasting ways. In the bottom half of the draw, Pace & Ellis needed only three to see off Maliha Baig & Isabelle Lacorte, though it was tight for the most part as the victors claimed it 11-4, 13-11, 12-10.
At the top of the draw, it looked as if top seeds Anna Green & Saskia Key were duly heading to the final when they took the first two in comfort against Pashley & Shute.
The lower-ranked pair took the third, and saved two match points on the way to winning a prolonged fourth, before pulled clear in the fifth. The final score was 3-2 (4-11, 8-11, 11-6, 17-15, 11-5).
Under-17 Boys’ Doubles
Second seeds James Hamblett & Joseph Hunter dug deep to defeat top seeds Connor Green & Jakub Piwowar in a pulsating final.
They came from 2-1 down to win it 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 11-8) – a first National title for Hamblett.
In the semi-finals, Green & Piwowar beat Krish Chotai & Jake Haygarth 3-1 (11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9), while it was another five-game triumph for Hamblett & Hunter, seeing off Adam Dennison & Larry Trumpauskas 3-2 (11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-13, 12-10).
It looked like a stunning upset was on the cards in the quarter-finals as Green & Piwowar trailed Joseph Dennison & Francesco Bonato 2-0. Looking at the rest of the scorecard, it might have been a case of ‘don’t make them angry’ as the top seeds came back to win 3-2 (14-16, 9-11, 11-4, 11-1, 11-3).
Dennison & Bonato had been on the right side of a five-setter in the preliminary round, coming through 3-2 (11-13, 11-5, 6-11, 14-12, 11-8) against Ben Dunkley & Joseph Fortnum-Adams.
In the bottom half of the draw, second seeds Hunter & Hamblett also needed a fifth against Ollie Maric-Murray & Chidumebi Egbeama – they won it 3-2 (6-11, 11-5, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5).